Roasted Corn Soup

Servings : 4 - 6
Prep Time : 30m
Cook Time : 30m
Ready In : 60mUsing corn three ways gives this recipe for Roasted Corn Soup a truly corny taste. Easily made ahead of time, this soup is perfect for a first course.

Roasted Corn Soup is a perfect first course when summer corn is at its best, that is, of course, summertime.

Roasted Corn Soup

Ingredients

4 ears of corn, kernels removed

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1/2 of an Anaheim chili pepper, seeded and chopped

1 teaspoon chopped jalapeno

1 (about 6 - ounce) russet potato, peeled and cubed

1 (7-ounce) can corn, drained

2 cups chicken broth (preferably homemade or low-salt)

2 cups corn broth

2 tablespoons heavy cream omit if making vegetarian

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, or to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

For the Garnish:

1 roma tomato, seeded and diced into a small dice

2 green onions, thinly sliced

Finely chopped cilantro

1/2 cup avocado, diced into a small dice

1/2 cup reserved roasted corn

Method

Step 1

Heat oven to 400º F. Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Toss the fresh corn with 1 teaspoon olive oil; pour onto the cookie sheet and roast in the oven, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes, or until brown and toasty. Set aside 1/2 cup for garnish.

Step 2

Heat the remaining oil and the butter in a large saucepan; saute the onion, garlic, Anaheim chili, and jalapeno until just wilted. Add the potato, chicken broth, corn broth, canned corn, and remaining roasted corn. Simmer about 30 minutes. Let stand until cooled, then place the solids into a blender along with just enough liquid to blend. Pass the blended ingredients through a fine sieve, pressing to remove as much pulp as possible while leaving the hard casings in the sieve. Add the blended ingredients back to the pan. Heat the soup up to simmer, add the cumin and cream. Stir to combine. Ladle into warm bowls, and top with the garnishes.

The making of Roasted Corn Soup

A printer-friendly recipe card is available at the bottom of this post

Last week I shared a recipe for a super delicious Apricot Almond and Brown Butter Tart I made for the dessert at a dinner party I gave; this week I share my recipe for a Roasted Corn Soup that I made as the beginning course. I love to serve soup as an opening course. And this soup is a great one to serve in the summer when corn is at its peak.

“Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?”

Confucius

This soup uses corn three ways, roasted fresh, canned, and corn broth. The roasted corn gives it a slightly nutty flavor. The canned corn? Well, I think that you just can’t replicate the flavor of canned corn, without using canned corn. It’s very distinctive in its flavor. Right? And homemade corn broth added extra corniness to the mix. I learned about corn broth when I made my recipe for Sweet Corn Creme Brûlée . Seeping the corn in the cream added so much flavor, so I thought it would work here too. And it does.

How to make corn broth

To make corn broth, once the kernels have been removed from the cob, cut 2 or 3 of the cobs in half and place in a saucepan with about 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Shut the heat off, or remove the pan from the heat, and let it steep for another 20 minutes. What you will have is a very corny stock.

Part II – Roast the corn

Roast the corn kernels in a hot 400º oven until they are nice and toasty. How long this will take depends on how juicy your kernels are. This batch of corn was extra juicy, it took almost 30 minutes to get it browned, so check on them and stir often. Remove it once it’s the right amount of toasty – anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes.

Once the corn is roasted, and the corn broth is made, the soup comes together very easily. After you blend it (always use care when blending hot liquids) you will still need to strain out the hard casings. Even with my Vitamix, I couldn’t get it smooth.

Make it vegan

It is easy to make this roasted corn soup vegan too. Simply use veggie stock in place of the chicken stock and omit the cream. Oh, and use vegan butter.

See-simple.

You can use either white or yellow corn, although I think yellow corn has more corn flavor

Best to make it in advance. Best for you, best for the soup

Whenever I have a dinner party, I love to serve dishes that I can make in advance, that way my kitchen is clean when guests arrive AND I’m fresh and not tired from cooking all day. I remember my mother working so hard at getting things prepared that when it came to actually sitting down and eating, she, I think, would have rather just gone to bed. This taught me to spread my work out over a few days, and learn to make things ahead of time.

This soup is one of those dishes that actually improves in flavor by letting it sit a day or so in the refrigerator allowing all the flavors to blend. On the day you want to serve it; heat it over low heat until hot. Save some of that corn broth to thin it as is necessary. Soups like these have a tendency to thicken after being refrigerated and the corn broth is the perfect thing to use to thin it to a proper soup-like consistency. Of course, that is also a personal choice. How thick or thin you like your soup. I like this one to be rather thick, but you might like it thinner. You could also use either white or yellow corn in this soup, although personally, I think yellow corn has more corn flavor. And the color of the soup with be different. But…

Those choices are entirely up to you.

Cooking – it’s all about freedom of choice.

LindySez: And don’t forget my favorite way of taking corn off the cob. Well, actually I found a new better way, using my mandolin, but since most of you won’t use a mandolin, this method works great.

Yield: 6 servings

Roasted Corn Soup

Roasted Corn Soup is a perfect first course when summer corn is at its best, that is, of course, summertime.

Prep Time30 minutes

Cook Time30 minutes

Total Time1 hour

Ingredients

4 ears of corn, kernels removed

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1/2 of an Anaheim chili pepper, seeded and chopped

1 teaspoon chopped jalapeno

1 (about 6 - ounce) russet potato, peeled and cubed

1 (7-ounce) can corn, drained

2 cups chicken broth (preferably homemade or low-salt)

2 cups corn broth

2 tablespoons heavy cream omit if making vegetarian

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, or to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

For the Garnish:

1 roma tomato, seeded and diced into a small dice

2 green onions, thinly sliced

Finely chopped cilantro

1/2 cup avocado, diced into a small dice

1/2 cup reserved roasted corn

Instructions

Step 1

Heat oven to 400º F. Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Toss the fresh corn with 1 teaspoon olive oil; pour onto the cookie sheet and roast in the oven, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes, or until brown and toasty. Set aside 1/2 cup for garnish.

Step 2

Heat the remaining oil and the butter in a large saucepan; saute the onion, garlic, Anaheim chili, and jalapeno until just wilted. Add the potato, chicken broth, corn broth, canned corn, and remaining roasted corn. Simmer about 30 minutes. Let stand until cooled, then place the solids into a blender along with just enough liquid to blend. Pass the blended ingredients through a fine sieve, pressing to remove as much pulp as possible while leaving the hard casings in the sieve. Add the blended ingredients back to the pan. Heat the soup up to simmer, add the cumin and cream. Stir to combine. Ladle into warm bowls, and top with the garnishes.

Notes

To make corn broth, once the kernels have been removed from the cob, cut 2 or 3 of the cobs in half and place in a saucepan with about 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Shut the heat off, or remove the pan from the heat, and let it steep for another 20 minutes. What you will have is a very corny stock.